Anything Could Happen' for local hip-hop, pop duo

They came out of nowhere. In just one week, the music video for Heyyo’s first single, a remix of Ellie Goulding’s “Anything Could Happen,” reached almost 17,000 views on Youtube.

During a trip to Penn State University in January, Dan Gevirtz, an incoming sophomore student at Bucknell University, met PSU student Matt Fell. A casual hang out turned into musical magic when Gevirtz began dropping rap verses to a beat Fell created.

Inspired by Hoodie Allen’s merger of rapping and singing, Gevirtz broached the idea of forming a similar style duo with Fell.

“I thought it was a joke at first,” Fell said of Gevirtz’s plan; yet, despite his novice status, Gevirtz’s rapping abilities made real the possibility of collaboration.

Advertisement

For Fell, music had always played a part of his life, dating back to kindergarten when his parents “kind of forced” him into taking piano lessons. By the time he finished middle school, Fell realized his true passion for music. At Conestoga High School, Fell became a self-proclaimed “music geek,” playing trumpet in the marching band and piano in the jazz ensemble, singing in the choir, performing in the musicals, and recording music with his friends after school.

“He literally plays every instrument known to man,” Gevirtz said with a laugh. “You’ll tell him to play a song he’s never heard before, and he’ll just start playing. It’s so cool.”

Aside from a rap he once made to the Justin Bieber song “Boyfriend,” Gevirtz did not have any previous musical experience. In contrast to Fell’s “music geek” role in high school, Gevirtz played the part of the star athlete as a member of North Penn High School’s football and track teams, and it was on a whim that he tried his hand at the microphone.

With their different musical backgrounds, it makes sense that Gevirtz would describe the duo’s name, Heyyo, in relation to the yin and the yang in the sense that Fell, as the “hey,” brings harmony to Gevirtz’s “yo.”

Their method of song writing finds a similar kind of balance, with Fell writing the choral segments and creating the “beat,” or instrumentation, of the song, and with Gevirtz writing the rap verses.

“It’s kind of like we’re driving a car. I’m driving, and he’s in the passenger seat giving me directions,” Fell said of the writing process. “We’re on the same wavelength.”

Through their collaborative efforts, Fell and Gevirtz work to bring together diverse musical elements, leading to the execution of songs that each have a “different vibe,” as Fell explained.

With Fell’s current “classic rock phase,” the styles of The Police and Bruce Springsteen mix with Gevirtz’s modern influences of Mike Posner and Sam Adams, wrapped up together in Fell’s mellow rock approach to singing, reminiscent of Jason Mraz or Coldplay.

Once he gets into his writing zone, Gevirtz said the lyrics start to flow, and he can finish an entire song in just 10 minutes. Gevirtz’s incorporates pop culture references in his lyrics and uses a lot of near rhyming, or word pairs that sound similar enough that they tend to trick the ear into thinking the words rhyme.

After their slow start in a makeshift recording studio in Fell’s dorm room, the summer months have given the duo more flexibility, space, and time to practice. For now, marketing majors Fell and Gevirtz are working to build an internet following through the release of several music videos before the debut of their first EP, expected for release sometime in early August.

To create the visual spectacle of their first video, “Anything Could Happen,” Fell enlisted the help of PIT Media Group, a small production company started by his friends Luke Rafferty and Zach Lowry.

The popular video features Fell and Gevirtz playing in various locations around Philadelphia, including an abandoned warehouse in North Philadelphia.

To increase their viewership, Heyyo submitted their “Anything Could Happen” video to a website called “Good Music All Day,” where their video stands a chance at making an appearance on the website’s main page if they receive enough votes during a two-week period. Currently, “Anything Could Happen” sits among the top-five highest rated new videos on the site.

Looking ahead, the band hopes to perform on Penn State’s main campus and eventually make it to performing in Philadelphia, which Fell calls their “Holy Grail.” Although Heyyo enjoys an outpouring of support from North Penn and Conestoga High School students on its Facebook page, Fell and Gevirtz keep themselves grounded through focus on creating quality music.

“I say the faster you rise the faster you fall, in my book,” Fell said.

“I wouldn’t mind rising fast though,” Gevirtz laughed.

You can vote for Heyyo’s “Anything Could Happen” video through the following link: http://goodmusicallday.com/vote/. You can also download this single via Sound Cloud: https://soundcloud.com/heyyomusic/anything-could-happen.